Cellulose acetate (CA) fibers are often used in producing tobacco smoking filter plugs for smoking articles such as cigarettes. In a conventional process of manufacturing a cigarette filter plug, cellulose acetate fibers are crimped, entangled and bonded to each other by binders such as triacetin (i.e., glycerin triacetate).
After a smoking article is consumed, it is discarded. Typically, cellulose acetate fibers contained in the smoking article degrade slower than tobacco and/or the paper parts of the cigarette article, thereby contributing litter to the environment. To reduce the environmental burden of discarded filtered smoking articles, there is interest in improved techniques for developing cigarette filter plugs containing cellulose acetate fibers having an improved degradation rate.